The Bentley Corniche was the Bentley-badged version of the Rolls-Royce Corniche, the two-door luxury car that Rolls-Royce Motors built from 1971. It was produced in small numbers and in July 1984 was renamed the Bentley Continental, the name it carried until 1995.
Bentley Corniche at a glance
| Maker | Rolls-Royce Motors, Mulliner Park Ward, London |
|---|---|
| Bentley production | 1971–1984 |
| Bodies | two-door saloon (to 1980) and convertible |
| Engine | 6.75-litre V8, aluminium block and heads |
| Carburation | twin SU, then a Solex 4A1 from 1977 |
| Transmission | General Motors Turbo-Hydramatic 400 three-speed automatic |
| Wheelbase | 3,042 mm, 3,048 mm from 1974, 3,061 mm from 1979 |
| Suspension | independent with hydraulic self-levelling |
| Bentley saloons built | 69 |
| Bentley convertibles built | 77 |
History of the Bentley Corniche
The Corniche grew out of the Mulliner Park Ward two-door versions of the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, the two-door Saloon of 1965 and the Drophead Coupé of 1966. Production stayed in London at Mulliner Park Ward, and the Corniche name was applied in March 1971. The name came from a 1939 experimental prototype, itself named after the French word for a coastal road such as the Grande Corniche above Monaco.
The 1939 Corniche prototype
The first car to carry the Corniche name was a 1939 prototype based on the Bentley Mark V, with coachwork designed in collaboration with several parties, most prominently the French designer Georges Paulin, and built by Carrosserie Vanvooren in Paris. It covered 15,000 miles of endurance testing in continental Europe before being destroyed by a bomb at a dock in Dieppe while waiting to be shipped back to England. The war prevented any production version, but the company registered the name for later use. Bentley’s Mulliner division completed a full re-creation of the car for the company heritage fleet in 2019.
Engineering
The Corniche used the standard Rolls-Royce V8 of 6,750 cc with an aluminium-silicon alloy block and aluminium cylinder heads with cast-iron wet liners, a bore of 104.1 mm and a stroke of 99.1 mm. Twin SU carburettors were fitted at first and replaced by a single Solex 4A1 four-barrel in 1977, while de-smogged export models kept the twin SUs until 1980, when Bosch fuel injection was added. The gearbox was a General Motors Turbo-Hydramatic 400 three-speed automatic. Suspension was independent with coil springs and a hydraulic self-levelling system, at first on all four wheels and later on the rear only, and there were four-wheel disc brakes with ventilated discs from 1972.
The wheelbase grew from 3,042 mm to 3,048 mm in 1974 and 3,061 mm in 1979. The Corniche differed from other Silver Shadows in its half wheel covers with stainless steel trim, a three-spoke wood-rimmed steering wheel and Rolls-Royce’s first standard tachometer. The 1977 restyling brought rack-and-pinion steering, alloy and rubber bumpers, an aluminium radiator, an oil cooler and bi-level air conditioning, and in 1977 Bosch KE/K-Jetronic injection gave the L410I engine about 240 PS and a 190 km/h top speed.
The Bentley version
The Bentley version was produced alongside the Rolls-Royce car at Mulliner Park Ward and shared its body and mechanicals, differing in the radiator and badges. In July 1984 it was updated and given the new name Bentley Continental, with revised colour-coded bumpers, door mirrors, a new dashboard and improved seats. Production of the Bentley Corniche amounted to 69 saloons and 77 convertibles, against 1,090 Rolls-Royce saloons and 3,239 Rolls-Royce convertibles. The Corniche became a status symbol at once, bought by Paul McCartney, Frank Sinatra and Tom Jones, while David Bowie, Michael Caine, Elton John and Dean Martin joined two-year waiting lists.
Design and features
- Bentley badges on a Rolls-Royce: the same body and engineering as the Corniche, with Bentley’s radiator and emblems.
- Self-levelling suspension: hydraulic levelling built under licence, at first on all four wheels.
- Growing wheelbase: stretched twice, from 3,042 mm to 3,061 mm, to give more room.
- Celebrity following: the Corniche became the car of the rich and famous in the 1970s.
Bentley Corniche versions
- Bentley Corniche saloon (1971–1980): the fixed-head two-door, 69 built.
- Bentley Corniche convertible (1971–1984): the open version, 77 built.
- Bentley Continental (from 1984): the renamed and updated version of the same car.
- 1939 Corniche prototype: the one-off Mark V-based car that gave the model its name.
The Corniche was replaced in the Bentley range by the Continental R of 1991, and its Rolls-Royce sister is described on the Camargue page. More cars are in the Bentley collection.
Sources
- Rolls-Royce Corniche, English Wikipedia: Bentley version, engineering, production, history
- Bentley Corniche, German Wikipedia: model identification
